Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Si Kancil

In one beautiful day, si Kancil was out of his den. He was very hungry. He wanted to go straight to the place where he usually looked for food. Unfortunately, there was not much food left. Available food couldn’t fill his stomach. Eventually he decided to roam to other places for food and he arrived at a river bank.

Si Kancil saw plenty of food across the river, green grass grew, trees were decorated with green leaves and ripe fruits. He drooled, imagining how delicious the food across the river was. Yet, he was baffled how he could cross the river because there was no bridge joining the two banks.

Then si Kancil tried to step into the river, just in case it was shallow enough so he could cross it without any bridge. It was only one of his feet that had touched the water when it was caught by crocodile’s jaws. Apparently the crocodile had been watching him until he was careless. Si Kancil’s situation was critical, his life would end with one movement from the crocodile, his flesh would be a tender meal for the crocodile. “I intended to search for delicious meal, but now I end up become the delicious meal for the crocodile”, si Kancil thought.

However, si Kancil was not a mere animal, his brain wit was as quick as his movement. This wasn’t the first time he was in a critical situation. It was many times that his life was saved by his wit. While his brain was working, he saw a group of crocodiles were behind the one which caught him and they were also ready to chew his flesh. The plurality of the crocodiles didn’t scare him. Instead, it became an opportunity for him to escape from death. Then si Kancil started to play his wit. “Dear crocodile, you should know that I am here voluntarily. I feel I’ve been living to long in this world, and now I’ve made up my mind to end my life. I’ve also decided to distribute my flesh and my whole body to the crocodiles inhabiting this river. But I make a condition that my flesh must be distributed fairly and squarely to all the crocodiles here. Deal? All the crocodiles stunned for a while, they were amazed by what si Kancil had said. “Alright, Kancil. if we are greed with what you’ve just said, how are we going to do?”. “Hmm … the trap starts to work,” si Kancil thought. “First, I have to count how many crocodiles inhabiting this river. If I already know the number, I’ll be able to determine home much of my flesh for each of you. Therefore, you don’t need to fight one another. “The crocodiles seemed to be more interested in si Kancil’s explanation because they saw the advantage before them. as if they were charmed by si Kancil, the crocodiles position themselves side from one river bank to the other. Then, si Kancil executed his clever plan. While stepping on each crocodile that made a line on the river surface, he started to count, “One … two … three …” and finally until the last crocodile…”bye-bye…” and he quickly jumped to the river bank and ran into the green, thick bush leaving the crocodile stunned, realizing their stupidity